Corning® Gorilla® Glass Now Found On More Than 1.5 Billion Devices

Corning Incorporated’s (NYSE:GLW) novel and successful material, Corning® Gorilla® Glass, can now be found on more than 1.5 billion consumer electronic devices.

Gorilla Glass has had a profound influence on electronics manufacturers by dramatically improving screen durability, image clarity, and touch performance with a material that is both thin and tough. Corning® Gorilla® Glass 3 with Native Damage Resistance™ is the third generation of the world’s leading cover glass.This latest version provides improved scratch resistance and durability, enabling new device designs and improving the user experience. To develop Gorilla Glass 3, Corning used its detailed understanding of mobile device requirements and glass processing to develop a new atomic composition for glass.

“There are competitive products on the market, but we haven’t found any other solution that can meet all of the requirements consumers have today for their electronic devices,” commented James R. Steiner, senior vice president and general manager of Corning’s Specialty Materials segment, which includes Gorilla Glass. Steiner continued: “Gorilla Glass is extremely thin, which enhances the touch experience. It is highly durable, so it can better resist the damage that comes with the everyday use of mobile devices. It has a precision surface, making brighter images possible; can be mass manufactured quickly and cost-effectively; and can be recycled using standard recycling programs. Gorilla Glass can also be molded, providing designers with new options.”

Recently, speculation has arisen that manufactured sapphire crystal might become an alternative to Corning’s Gorilla Glass. “Sapphire’s performance as a cover for high-end watches probably leads to the current speculation. But those covers are much smaller than a mobile phone and are two to three times thicker than Gorilla Glass. In one of our commonly accepted strength tests, sapphire breaks more easily than Gorilla Glass after the same simulated use. Additionally, sapphire’s cost and environmental hit are huge issues,” Steiner said.

Jeffrey W. Evenson, senior vice president, remarked, “Discussion seems to center around sapphire as an obvious solution for a cover material. What would people say if someone invented a cover that was about half the weight, used 99 percent less energy to make, provided brighter displays, and cost less than a tenth of sapphire? I think they’d say that sapphire was in real trouble. It so happens that we at Corning already invented that cover – and it’s called Gorilla Glass.” Evenson added that the company’s tests so far indicate Gorilla Glass requires about three times more force to break than sapphire after both materials have received similar wear and tear.

Steiner pointed out that Gorilla Glass continues to improve. “We aren’t standing still. We’ve already introduced three versions of Gorilla Glass since its launch in 2007. We work closely with consumer electronics manufacturers to understand their new designs and additional features for future devices. For example, we’ve begun to produce Gorilla Glass at a thinness level that allows it to be curved and formed into shapes without sacrificing any of its toughness. This will allow manufacturers to offer more distinctive devices in the future.”

Steiner added that future Gorilla Glass generations will address a common consumer complaint – the difficulty of viewing mobile device screens in bright sunlight – with technology to reduce reflections from Gorilla Glass. “And we are working on native antimicrobial technology to attack and eliminate most of the bacteria and germs found on surfaces. Once we are ready to commercialize this version of Gorilla Glass, the application possibilities are enormous, including hospitals, public spaces, schools, and mobile devices and so forth,” Steiner remarked.

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